Exploring External Peak Demands: The Influence of Contextual Factors on Male Basketball Players

Understanding the external load, particularly the peak demands (PDs), experienced by players is essential. Several factors, such as the playing time, team venue, score outcome, and match nature, can influence basketball performance. Accelerometry-based methods allow for the estimation of the load borne by athletes and the peaks they reach. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of these factors on PDs across different time windows (30 s, 1 min, and 3 min). Eleven national-level athletes were monitored during 29 matches using measurement devices. Inertial movement units were used to measure peak PlayerLoad™ (PL) across any time window. Mixed linear models were used to compare the groups, and effect size was calculated to quantify the differences. Significant differences (p < 0.05, small effects) were found between occasional players (who play fewer minutes) and core players (who play intermediate minutes), with the latter reaching higher PDs, though with small effect sizes. Core players also reached higher PDs than top players (who play the most minutes), but the differences were not significant (p > 0.05, trivial effects). In summary, core players reach higher external PDs during competition compared to occasional players, while other contextual factors did not show a significant influence on external PDs.